What is your name? How old were you and What was your job in 1950s?
My name is Lee Oak Sun. I was 18 years old, and was a high school student.
Where did you live?
I used to live in Yung Deung Po
How was it like when the war broke out?
In midnight, 6’o clock I heard gun sounds without realizing the war broke out, I was never even beware of the war but I kept hearing gun sounds. Sounds were coming from far distance but it kept coming closer and closer. Then eventually I realized there is an war! I was in boarding school with my older sister, and then there was evacuation warning program stating people to get their paychecks today and go somewhere as fast as possible. Thus sister and I got together with sister’s friends and start walking to the south.
Could you describe your experience as refugee?
While I was walking, tanks and military cars were just coming in within few hours. when we were trying to go to Chun ahn, we did not eat anything before hand. Thus we went Anyang to get some food where there weren’t any gun sounds. However the thing is that we could not even buy rice with money, so we were wondering around what to do. While my sister was resting because she was just so exhausted, I walked into a house, and found one old woman, left alone in the house. When I asked about other people, she said all the other people left and she refused to leave. Thankfully, when I asked her desperately and show her how hungry I am, she provided me rice to eat with some pepper and soybeans. When I was just blank out and thought about eating, I realized that my sister was suffering and also starving. Thus, without getting noticed, I pulled out my hand towel , which I used to get rid of sweat, and wrapped some rice with those towel. Yes, I know it sounds dirty and gross, but dirtiness was not the matter or even considered important.Not only that we went into some people’s farm illegally and but also ate potatoes without even cooking them. When we started to walking under drizzling sun in june, we saw people gathered around in the hall of one house. When we walked into see what’s happening, we started to hear canon sounds. Without any discussions, we ran under into an iron pot despite the fact it was full of ashes. We weren’t able to think anything else except actually to survive and hide. When the sounds stopped and we got out, our faces were covered with black ashes, and we used to laugh along by looking at those faces. After that, we were walking toward south and just kept walking and saw so many tradigy and ironies caused by the war. We saw a dead mom lying down, besides a boy who was crying and crying but no one cared to help, because they need to save their lives first, they just walked away.Even though he was a little kid, he could not get any attention from people. Not only that but also we saw another kid after walking little bit more. The kid went into bee’s cave for some reasons which I don’t know why. Bees were all over kid’s body and he was just crying for help but again no one cared to help. Their primary urgency was saving their lives.The war brought true human nature of people: just thinking for themselves. When I kept walking, my foot was all brutally torn apart since I walked such a long distance. However, we realized how train started running. I was trying to go to Mokpo to take a ship called “ caferio” to go to jeju island but mokpo was too far away. However, luckily I was albe to get on the military cargo train to get to the mokpo. When I walked into the train, I could not belive what I saw. The body of injured soldiers were stacked up and lying on the bunks. Not only I was shocked with how those many number of casualties to be in the same train but also blood dropping down from the bed all over the place. You guy’s don’t know anything about the war! If the war happens again I would never forgive North Korean bastards( actual translation) would NEVER FORGIVE THEM. When we finally reached Jeju by talking a ship, we still could not go into our house and we were examined thoroughly in the school to enter. What did you think about U.S joining the War?
They looked like angels sent by the god. All the south Koreans were killed and North Korean bastards were coming in closer and closer. Even though I went to jeju while other people went to pusan, U.S came into Korea with incheon operation with their massive amount of ships. The U.S was the one who made it possible to push them back and in the end create 3.8 parallel line. Even though nowadays people are angry with U.S in some ways, but without help from U.S, we would have been living in the Communist society.
What do you think about Yeon Pyeong Do missile incident?
Just take a look at Yeon Pyeong Do , take a look at how North Koreans shot missiles! That was the way back then too. By just shooting massive missiles, they were just invading south korea blindly. They just came in without informing, thus nowadays they can just come into our territory through gaesung without any problem. If we south Koreans do not prepare, they will just keep coming in;thus we should be always militarized
If North Korea had won the war, do you think Korea would have been Communist country?
Yes ofcourse, our nation would have been communist just like how Russia and China were communist countries.
How did you feel about U.N nations?
Our Korea was helped by many nations such as turkey and just came all where from the world.Thus just like how our nation was helped, we need to help others too. When our nation was about to disappear, those countries came in and fought for us. You mustremember how many people died! Eric when we went to Chicago, don’t you remember statues of people who were killed in the Korean war? Also in newyork, next to statue of liberty do you remember how there was a statue of man holding a gun to express sorrow for the soldiers in the Korean war? Korea should always help others like those countries.
What did you think about 6.25 War? Do you think it will happen again?
You must realize that North Korea and China were the ones who started the war and just invaded our territory. They keep saying that we are the ones who invaded but that’s all baloney. Around 6’0 clock, I still remember hearing the few gun sounds, later changing into rapid gun sounds. North Korea was coming in so strongly that, we even exploded our bridges in Han river to prevent them from coming in which shows how the invasion of North Korea seemed thoughtless. Even though war breaks out again, It would not be an war like the 6.25 war because U.S is strongly supporting us and preventing North to invade south blindly once again. If the war breaks out again, it is the matter of who shoots the bomb first.
What do you remember the most?
Even if children and people were dying, no one was willing to help. Some parents were just leaving their children on the streets because they were just so heavy and hard to carry. You don’t know until you experience the war. Think about it, You can’t even buy foods with money and people have no choice but to starve. Nowadays, teenagers just eat ramyeon right? but back then we did not even have water or any electricity. I think teenagers these days are thinking the war as a joke. It is absolutely tragic to not have a nation, it is just absolutely tragic.
Is there anything I haven't asked about that you think I should know?
-Our life time had the most wars and tragic events such as Dae Donghwa war, Noil war but we were able to develop our country. The reason that we were able to develop was that educated people worked hard for the nation to develop. In order to run the nation, it is absolutely important to keep the nation with full of educated people! Also when U.N nations stated that the Korea would not be able to develop in 100 years in 1950s, but when they came back to Korea , they were all shocked by how Koreans were able to develop their country. Korea developed a lot, Korea did develop a lot....
North
Jho Seong Bong
Age:76
Home: Pyeongahn Namdo Jinanposi which is located near PyeongYang
Interview Transcript
What is your name? How old were you and What was your job in 1950s?
My name is Jho Seong Bong. I was 16 years old and was a middle school student.
Where did you live?
I used to live in Pyeongahn Namdo Jinanposi which is located near PyeongYang.
What was your stance in the war?
Even though, I was living in the North, I supported the South. During that time, the South had the government set up by free elections under the control of UN, and I wanted to live in the country which contains fairness and justice. Thus, at that time, many people in the North have supported the South government.
How did you react to the war?
In the beginning of the war, I flee to the and lived near the city. However, in October when UN soldiers had came into the War, I decided to go to Inchun in the South to reach Jeonranamdo Mokpo by taking a ship because there was absolute chaos on the street, massive amount of people have ruined the transportation, thus I thought taking a ship would be effective.
How did you react when U.S joined the war?
Even though many U.N nations have joined the war and U.S was just the part of those nations, but I felt the most respect toward the U.S who provided the most resources for Korea. Not only that but also I already have learned in the school that U.S was already in democracy and was the one who brought an end to the World War II, thus, I was already admiring U.S.
How do you think about the Unification?
Even though, I hope that the unification to happen however the intense conflicts and differences between two idealogies and government are too distinctive that the unification does not seem possible. Also I rather believe that by looking at Yeon Pyeong Do incident, there is a more chance of an another war between two nations.
Reflection
Just like how the cruelty of the War can not be understood, the War can not be predicted when to happen by people. It is just frustrating for me to realize how people do not even have chances to set things right beforehand and forced to go through the War if the nation is invaded. Even though it was a peaceful day, but next day, one figures out that the War broke out: how would you feel if the sounds of guns were just keep getting closer and closer? I can not even dare to imagine looks on people’s faces when they woke up from harmonious sleep by sounds of canons and guns. Then, their jobs were not only accepting the reality but also they had to go through lives as refugees. More than half of people of the Nation were fleeing to the South without hopes but filled with urgent desire to live. One thing that angered me the most than annihilation of people’s lives was that the War had brought people’s selfishness to the maximum. People’s primary urgency was saving themselves and forced to have absolutely concern for others. Just like Lee Oak Sun (78) mentioned, the kids were left by themselves and ditched by their parents who were full of desire to live. Also ironically, when the world viewed U.S as using Korea to satisfy their objectives, the Koreans viewed U.S army as the savior and national hero for their nation: both people who I interviewed strongly praised U.S and how it was able to sustain their freedom from communists. I have realized that the urgency to live was so strong that it blinded people to focus on other factors caused by U.S and be only thankful to the successful military action. Throughout the interview, I was able to learn actual social life of people and feelings of people which can not be taught by the textbook. By looking at the actual person’s hand motions, tone of voice, and facial expressions, students will be able to get the actual feelings from lives of refugees. Students will never be able to learn or interpret people’s feelings by just learning causes and consequences of the War. However the video, itself, will present the general mood and feelings of people, but it would not help students to understand the War because interview can be biased in someways. For example, both participants were having strong opposition and hatred toward communists and had high accolade toward the U.S; thus it makes participants’ answers contain favoritism and not neutral. In conclusion, the interview is created for the purpose of showing general feelings; thus it would make easier for students to understand the cruelty of the War while they are learning the material.
Addition:Third Primary Resource
Park Min Su
-Currently Priest -Born in 1922, Pyeong Ahn Nam Do
What was your job before 1950s?
-I used to live in Pyeng Ahn Nam Do, Kangse, which is about half way between North Korea and South Korea. My parents died when I was young, and my 2 brothers were killed in the war. The only family member I had was by big brother. One day he told me that in order to make a family prestigious one of the member should be a lawyer or doctor but he said since he is a doctor I do not have to be neither of those jobs. Then he told me about becoming a priest and I decided to take that recommendation. With money given by my brother, I went to Kam Ri Kyo New religious boarding school to be a student.
What were the reactions when the War broke out?
-On sunday, while all the teachers were staying in the school, students went to Dongdaemoon Church in order to pray for the god. Even if there were buses and trains back then, but it was too expensive for students to afford it, so we decided to walk to the church. When the church ended and as we were going outside, there were bunch of cars with big speakers on saying that “ALL SOLDIERS WHO CAME OUT FOR THE BREAK MUST RETURN TO THE MILITARY CAMP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE”
Since we didn’t know about anything, we were just wondering why there were so many cars like that and we realized about the War when we came back to our school.
Since it was an unexpected War, I bet it was so chaotic and surprising. Were you able to take on any actions or make plans?
-Since it was the first war that I actually experienced in my life, I was so confused and couldn’t even accept the reality. When I slept on sunday, and woke up on Monday, I was able to realize that the War actually broke out: I heard sounds of cannons? or something loud in midnight. Thus all the people were just focusing on the news on radio and we kept hearing that North Korea was keep getting closer and closer in such a quick pace...... Since we didn’t experience the war, had knowledge, or even trained for the War, we basically didn’t know what to do at all.
Next day, one of my friend asked me to go and check what’s going on in Su Rae Moon. Then we were so shocked by looking at soldiers ,who couldn’t resisted against the North,escaping toward South and few moments later, and we were able to see line of communist tanks coming toward the south. We sprinted back to the boarding school but we did not try to flee because we didn’t even know where to flee or what to do and even Han Gang river bridge was destroyed on the next day.
Also, you know how Korea did not have big buildings back then? Thus our school, having a large area, was chosen as the place for council of communist people. When we saw the sign of the school, it was changed to Kyeong Ki Do Council of Communist People. However, surprisingly they didn’t do anything to the students. Thus when we noticed how North Agents came into our school and setting up weird equipments and changed the sign of the school, we felt the danger and it was the time for evacuation.
When everyone was out of motivations and will, I stepped up and acted like the leader. I asked others about going to the Church in Dong Dae Moon since there were no people in the church. When we got to the church, we saw 3 cooking ladies in our school who used to cook food for us. You probably don’t know how I was so happy. Then cooking ladies told us that they still got some rice to survive with, so we decided to stay in the church for a while because we were afraid of getting caught by soldiers and be pulled to some places we don’t know about.
Did you ever evacuate to somewhere else?
when we went to see what’s going on in outside, Dongbu women business high school was switched into communist soldier’s camp. Now we were surrounded by the communist soldiers. Then one day, when we were out of food, 2 friends and I went out to search for foods, then suddenly we were captured by the troop of soldiers and we were being taken to the “Seoul Security Center”. When we were in trance state, just panicking, just like in the movie, U.S jets came and started shooting bullets. All the soldiers escaped, and we thought this was the perfect time to escape. We kept running and went back to the church. Then one of my friend asked us about going to Kang Reung because he was born in Kang Reung and it might turn out to be a safe place. Thus we decided to give it a shot while 3 cooking ladies decided to stay.
How were you even able to manage food throughout the harsh evacuation?
Our Korea is a good country, In June and July, there were foods all over the place. There were vegetables, cucumbers, and fruits just everywhere. The owners of the farms didn’t care because they understood the situation we were in.
What did you do when you got to Gang Reung?
When we finally got to Gang Reung just by walking for days. While 2 people remained in the forest, the friend who was born in Gang Reung decided to go in and check whether it’s safe to go in. However, when he came back, he said there were posters everywhere saying whenever foreigners enter, it is one’s duty to report on them. Thus we just told that friend to stay in his home town and we decided to kept going.
We decided to just follow communist soldiers because we couldn’t see our south soldiers anywhere and communist soldiers’ goal was to reach Pusan. However on the way, we head back to seoul because we heard about the inch eon operation and again went back to our church. When we got back, there were still 3 cooking ladies, we were so glad to see them alive and we just started eating and eating without any asking questions or listening to the story of the evacuation. Just kept eating, eating with silence........... the War was just to harsh for us..... not only for us but also for everyone.
How do you think about United States?
It is true that US is always good, when we the Koreans were about to die and on the edge. U.S was the one who saved us. Especially Im so thankful to U.S church, because they are the ones who brought food and faith for us. I sincerely think that Korean Churches need to officially thanks the U.S Churches but Koreans are rather thinking that criticizing U.S is the expression of nationalism and love for Korea. I see that so humiliating and even embarrassing.
South
Lee Oak SunAge-78
Home- Yung Deung Po
Video
Interview Transcript
What is your name? How old were you and What was your job in 1950s?
My name is Lee Oak Sun. I was 18 years old, and was a high school student.
Where did you live?
I used to live in Yung Deung Po
How was it like when the war broke out?
In midnight, 6’o clock I heard gun sounds without realizing the war broke out, I was never even beware of the war but I kept hearing gun sounds. Sounds were coming from far distance but it kept coming closer and closer. Then eventually I realized there is an war! I was in boarding school with my older sister, and then there was evacuation warning program stating people to get their paychecks today and go somewhere as fast as possible. Thus sister and I got together with sister’s friends and start walking to the south.
Could you describe your experience as refugee?
While I was walking, tanks and military cars were just coming in within few hours. when we were trying to go to Chun ahn, we did not eat anything before hand. Thus we went Anyang to get some food where there weren’t any gun sounds. However the thing is that we could not even buy rice with money, so we were wondering around what to do. While my sister was resting because she was just so exhausted, I walked into a house, and found one old woman, left alone in the house. When I asked about other people, she said all the other people left and she refused to leave. Thankfully, when I asked her desperately and show her how hungry I am, she provided me rice to eat with some pepper and soybeans. When I was just blank out and thought about eating, I realized that my sister was suffering and also starving. Thus, without getting noticed, I pulled out my hand towel , which I used to get rid of sweat, and wrapped some rice with those towel. Yes, I know it sounds dirty and gross, but dirtiness was not the matter or even considered important.Not only that we went into some people’s farm illegally and but also ate potatoes without even cooking them. When we started to walking under drizzling sun in june, we saw people gathered around in the hall of one house. When we walked into see what’s happening, we started to hear canon sounds. Without any discussions, we ran under into an iron pot despite the fact it was full of ashes. We weren’t able to think anything else except actually to survive and hide. When the sounds stopped and we got out, our faces were covered with black ashes, and we used to laugh along by looking at those faces. After that, we were walking toward south and just kept walking and saw so many tradigy and ironies caused by the war. We saw a dead mom lying down, besides a boy who was crying and crying but no one cared to help, because they need to save their lives first, they just walked away.Even though he was a little kid, he could not get any attention from people. Not only that but also we saw another kid after walking little bit more. The kid went into bee’s cave for some reasons which I don’t know why. Bees were all over kid’s body and he was just crying for help but again no one cared to help. Their primary urgency was saving their lives.The war brought true human nature of people: just thinking for themselves. When I kept walking, my foot was all brutally torn apart since I walked such a long distance. However, we realized how train started running. I was trying to go to Mokpo to take a ship called “ caferio” to go to jeju island but mokpo was too far away. However, luckily I was albe to get on the military cargo train to get to the mokpo. When I walked into the train, I could not belive what I saw. The body of injured soldiers were stacked up and lying on the bunks. Not only I was shocked with how those many number of casualties to be in the same train but also blood dropping down from the bed all over the place. You guy’s don’t know anything about the war! If the war happens again I would never forgive North Korean bastards( actual translation) would NEVER FORGIVE THEM. When we finally reached Jeju by talking a ship, we still could not go into our house and we were examined thoroughly in the school to enter.
What did you think about U.S joining the War?
They looked like angels sent by the god. All the south Koreans were killed and North Korean bastards were coming in closer and closer. Even though I went to jeju while other people went to pusan, U.S came into Korea with incheon operation with their massive amount of ships. The U.S was the one who made it possible to push them back and in the end create 3.8 parallel line. Even though nowadays people are angry with U.S in some ways, but without help from U.S, we would have been living in the Communist society.
What do you think about Yeon Pyeong Do missile incident?
Just take a look at Yeon Pyeong Do , take a look at how North Koreans shot missiles! That was the way back then too. By just shooting massive missiles, they were just invading south korea blindly. They just came in without informing, thus nowadays they can just come into our territory through gaesung without any problem. If we south Koreans do not prepare, they will just keep coming in;thus we should be always militarized
If North Korea had won the war, do you think Korea would have been Communist country?
Yes ofcourse, our nation would have been communist just like how Russia and China were communist countries.
How did you feel about U.N nations?
Our Korea was helped by many nations such as turkey and just came all where from the world.Thus just like how our nation was helped, we need to help others too. When our nation was about to disappear, those countries came in and fought for us. You mustremember how many people died! Eric when we went to Chicago, don’t you remember statues of people who were killed in the Korean war? Also in newyork, next to statue of liberty do you remember how there was a statue of man holding a gun to express sorrow for the soldiers in the Korean war? Korea should always help others like those countries.
What did you think about 6.25 War? Do you think it will happen again?
You must realize that North Korea and China were the ones who started the war and just invaded our territory. They keep saying that we are the ones who invaded but that’s all baloney. Around 6’0 clock, I still remember hearing the few gun sounds, later changing into rapid gun sounds. North Korea was coming in so strongly that, we even exploded our bridges in Han river to prevent them from coming in which shows how the invasion of North Korea seemed thoughtless. Even though war breaks out again, It would not be an war like the 6.25 war because U.S is strongly supporting us and preventing North to invade south blindly once again. If the war breaks out again, it is the matter of who shoots the bomb first.
What do you remember the most?
Even if children and people were dying, no one was willing to help. Some parents were just leaving their children on the streets because they were just so heavy and hard to carry. You don’t know until you experience the war. Think about it, You can’t even buy foods with money and people have no choice but to starve. Nowadays, teenagers just eat ramyeon right? but back then we did not even have water or any electricity. I think teenagers these days are thinking the war as a joke. It is absolutely tragic to not have a nation, it is just absolutely tragic.
Is there anything I haven't asked about that you think I should know?
-Our life time had the most wars and tragic events such as Dae Donghwa war, Noil war but we were able to develop our country. The reason that we were able to develop was that educated people worked hard for the nation to develop. In order to run the nation, it is absolutely important to keep the nation with full of educated people! Also when U.N nations stated that the Korea would not be able to develop in 100 years in 1950s, but when they came back to Korea , they were all shocked by how Koreans were able to develop their country. Korea developed a lot, Korea did develop a lot....
North
Jho Seong Bong
Age:76
Home: Pyeongahn Namdo Jinanposi which is located near PyeongYang
Interview Transcript
What is your name? How old were you and What was your job in 1950s?
My name is Jho Seong Bong. I was 16 years old and was a middle school student.
Where did you live?
I used to live in Pyeongahn Namdo Jinanposi which is located near PyeongYang.
What was your stance in the war?
Even though, I was living in the North, I supported the South. During that time, the South had the government set up by free elections under the control of UN, and I wanted to live in the country which contains fairness and justice. Thus, at that time, many people in the North have supported the South government.
How did you react to the war?
In the beginning of the war, I flee to the and lived near the city. However, in October when UN soldiers had came into the War, I decided to go to Inchun in the South to reach Jeonranamdo Mokpo by taking a ship because there was absolute chaos on the street, massive amount of people have ruined the transportation, thus I thought taking a ship would be effective.
How did you react when U.S joined the war?
Even though many U.N nations have joined the war and U.S was just the part of those nations, but I felt the most respect toward the U.S who provided the most resources for Korea. Not only that but also I already have learned in the school that U.S was already in democracy and was the one who brought an end to the World War II, thus, I was already admiring U.S.
How do you think about the Unification?
Even though, I hope that the unification to happen however the intense conflicts and differences between two idealogies and government are too distinctive that the unification does not seem possible. Also I rather believe that by looking at Yeon Pyeong Do incident, there is a more chance of an another war between two nations.
Reflection
Just like how the cruelty of the War can not be understood, the War can not be predicted when to happen by people. It is just frustrating for me to realize how people do not even have chances to set things right beforehand and forced to go through the War if the nation is invaded. Even though it was a peaceful day, but next day, one figures out that the War broke out: how would you feel if the sounds of guns were just keep getting closer and closer? I can not even dare to imagine looks on people’s faces when they woke up from harmonious sleep by sounds of canons and guns. Then, their jobs were not only accepting the reality but also they had to go through lives as refugees. More than half of people of the Nation were fleeing to the South without hopes but filled with urgent desire to live. One thing that angered me the most than annihilation of people’s lives was that the War had brought people’s selfishness to the maximum. People’s primary urgency was saving themselves and forced to have absolutely concern for others. Just like Lee Oak Sun (78) mentioned, the kids were left by themselves and ditched by their parents who were full of desire to live. Also ironically, when the world viewed U.S as using Korea to satisfy their objectives, the Koreans viewed U.S army as the savior and national hero for their nation: both people who I interviewed strongly praised U.S and how it was able to sustain their freedom from communists. I have realized that the urgency to live was so strong that it blinded people to focus on other factors caused by U.S and be only thankful to the successful military action. Throughout the interview, I was able to learn actual social life of people and feelings of people which can not be taught by the textbook. By looking at the actual person’s hand motions, tone of voice, and facial expressions, students will be able to get the actual feelings from lives of refugees. Students will never be able to learn or interpret people’s feelings by just learning causes and consequences of the War. However the video, itself, will present the general mood and feelings of people, but it would not help students to understand the War because interview can be biased in someways. For example, both participants were having strong opposition and hatred toward communists and had high accolade toward the U.S; thus it makes participants’ answers contain favoritism and not neutral. In conclusion, the interview is created for the purpose of showing general feelings; thus it would make easier for students to understand the cruelty of the War while they are learning the material.
Addition:Third Primary Resource
Park Min Su
-Born in 1922, Pyeong Ahn Nam Do
What was your job before 1950s?
-I used to live in Pyeng Ahn Nam Do, Kangse, which is about half way between North Korea and South Korea. My parents died when I was young, and my 2 brothers were killed in the war. The only family member I had was by big brother. One day he told me that in order to make a family prestigious one of the member should be a lawyer or doctor but he said since he is a doctor I do not have to be neither of those jobs. Then he told me about becoming a priest and I decided to take that recommendation. With money given by my brother, I went to Kam Ri Kyo New religious boarding school to be a student.
What were the reactions when the War broke out?
-On sunday, while all the teachers were staying in the school, students went to Dongdaemoon Church in order to pray for the god. Even if there were buses and trains back then, but it was too expensive for students to afford it, so we decided to walk to the church. When the church ended and as we were going outside, there were bunch of cars with big speakers on saying that “ALL SOLDIERS WHO CAME OUT FOR THE BREAK MUST RETURN TO THE MILITARY CAMP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE”
Since we didn’t know about anything, we were just wondering why there were so many cars like that and we realized about the War when we came back to our school.
Since it was an unexpected War, I bet it was so chaotic and surprising. Were you able to take on any actions or make plans?
-Since it was the first war that I actually experienced in my life, I was so confused and couldn’t even accept the reality. When I slept on sunday, and woke up on Monday, I was able to realize that the War actually broke out: I heard sounds of cannons? or something loud in midnight. Thus all the people were just focusing on the news on radio and we kept hearing that North Korea was keep getting closer and closer in such a quick pace...... Since we didn’t experience the war, had knowledge, or even trained for the War, we basically didn’t know what to do at all.
Next day, one of my friend asked me to go and check what’s going on in Su Rae Moon. Then we were so shocked by looking at soldiers ,who couldn’t resisted against the North,escaping toward South and few moments later, and we were able to see line of communist tanks coming toward the south. We sprinted back to the boarding school but we did not try to flee because we didn’t even know where to flee or what to do and even Han Gang river bridge was destroyed on the next day.
Also, you know how Korea did not have big buildings back then? Thus our school, having a large area, was chosen as the place for council of communist people. When we saw the sign of the school, it was changed to Kyeong Ki Do Council of Communist People. However, surprisingly they didn’t do anything to the students. Thus when we noticed how North Agents came into our school and setting up weird equipments and changed the sign of the school, we felt the danger and it was the time for evacuation.
When everyone was out of motivations and will, I stepped up and acted like the leader. I asked others about going to the Church in Dong Dae Moon since there were no people in the church. When we got to the church, we saw 3 cooking ladies in our school who used to cook food for us. You probably don’t know how I was so happy. Then cooking ladies told us that they still got some rice to survive with, so we decided to stay in the church for a while because we were afraid of getting caught by soldiers and be pulled to some places we don’t know about.
Did you ever evacuate to somewhere else?
when we went to see what’s going on in outside, Dongbu women business high school was switched into communist soldier’s camp. Now we were surrounded by the communist soldiers. Then one day, when we were out of food, 2 friends and I went out to search for foods, then suddenly we were captured by the troop of soldiers and we were being taken to the “Seoul Security Center”. When we were in trance state, just panicking, just like in the movie, U.S jets came and started shooting bullets. All the soldiers escaped, and we thought this was the perfect time to escape. We kept running and went back to the church. Then one of my friend asked us about going to Kang Reung because he was born in Kang Reung and it might turn out to be a safe place. Thus we decided to give it a shot while 3 cooking ladies decided to stay.
How were you even able to manage food throughout the harsh evacuation?
Our Korea is a good country, In June and July, there were foods all over the place. There were vegetables, cucumbers, and fruits just everywhere. The owners of the farms didn’t care because they understood the situation we were in.
What did you do when you got to Gang Reung?
When we finally got to Gang Reung just by walking for days. While 2 people remained in the forest, the friend who was born in Gang Reung decided to go in and check whether it’s safe to go in. However, when he came back, he said there were posters everywhere saying whenever foreigners enter, it is one’s duty to report on them. Thus we just told that friend to stay in his home town and we decided to kept going.
We decided to just follow communist soldiers because we couldn’t see our south soldiers anywhere and communist soldiers’ goal was to reach Pusan. However on the way, we head back to seoul because we heard about the inch eon operation and again went back to our church. When we got back, there were still 3 cooking ladies, we were so glad to see them alive and we just started eating and eating without any asking questions or listening to the story of the evacuation. Just kept eating, eating with silence........... the War was just to harsh for us..... not only for us but also for everyone.
How do you think about United States?
It is true that US is always good, when we the Koreans were about to die and on the edge. U.S was the one who saved us. Especially Im so thankful to U.S church, because they are the ones who brought food and faith for us. I sincerely think that Korean Churches need to officially thanks the U.S Churches but Koreans are rather thinking that criticizing U.S is the expression of nationalism and love for Korea. I see that so humiliating and even embarrassing.